It was a
muggy Sunday morning and as Skippy Owen looked out of
his window he could see the dampness on the tarmac slowly
but surely drying up. He had a good feeling that the
game would be on today. Although he knew he should wait
for “Head Gardener” Nebbett to confirm (as he had cancelled
the previous days’ game due to unsuitable ground – Skippy
had already told the opposition the game was on prior
to getting a text from Connor saying Nebbett would allow
the game to go ahead!) A bold move by the Skipper, which
wasn’t to be the first of the day.
Having been told that Scotties
had just got back from a tour of Trinidad & Tobago
by mole Bridgeman the younger Skippy felt that, having
failed to secure the services of Jackson during the
week by texts between England and Spain (!), the team
were a very good Waltham Sunday side but not the 1st’s that
Younger Bridgeman recommended – diplomacy was in order
to secure the correct decision at the toss. Either way
Daniels (step-in-deputy-sub-captain nominated due to
the late running of real-actual-true Scottie Skipper)
and Owen felt that a walk out to the middle and a toss
is appropriate in a cricket game in all cases. In any
event the toss went well and the right decision was
made and Captain Scotts to bat.
With accustomed boldness Skippy-Wickie
Owen unleashed Paul “Hulk” Harris and “Nippy” Naveed
Raja on ’em! In the context of the quality of
batting WSL faced Raja’s 7-2-26-1 were particularly
attractive and deserving of note. Firey bowling By Harris
penetrated finishing on 7-0-35-2. Comedy moment of note
being the moment that Harris raising hands to his head
exclaiming “How te hell did that miss” as he cut the
batsman in half with the ball passing 6” over middle
stump. “Physics!” was Skippy-Wickies prompt response
– clearly something to do with orbiting objects and
the sling-shot effect to explain why he had clearly
failed to sop the ball passing him and go for 4.
With limited bowling available
the walking wounded were called upon and manfully kept
going in the face of extreme variation of bowling (“Bomber”
Burge trying to grenade Skippy-Wickie Owen at times,
“Shoulder” Smith and Nebbett “dropped on the head when
a baby” all stepping up to the bowling crease) but a
fine display of batting by the Reilly clan (E. Reilly
104, S. Reilly 46, J. Reilly 17) meant that at tea WSL
found themselves staring at a massive 219 to beat.
Openers Connor and Raja were
dismissed much quicker than expected which brought the
bold decision by Skippy of putting “Coach” Johnson and
“Hulk” Harris at 3 and 4 respectively, to the test.
The partnership started well, Coach steady as always
and Hulk playing the bad ball with aplomb, then, stutter,
and Harris was gone caught 1 handed. Daniels of the
Scotties nodding knowing on the sidelines saying he
puts down any he goes at with both hands – always catching
them one handed. Harris cursing that he will give up
cricket if his score is his bogey 37 – cheering up when
he hears he scored 38.
The banter on the sideline
continued – Daniels having been replaced by Bridgeman
Senior as he had food poisoning…..WSL tradition was
kept up by champion banter expert Nebbett as all favourably
compared Bridgeman Seniors’ performance relative to
Juniors’ …if he hadn’t been playing golf! Nice to note
that you don’t have to be there to have the mickey taken!
Juniors’ ears must have been burning!
Back to the game as Farnon
heads back to the pavilion cursing the his low score.
In goes Kiani who hangs around ticking the score over
helping Coach continue to amass run and getting a tidy
15 before getting out – I can’t remember how as Skippy
Owen was in the nets learning the defence facing Nebbetts’
throw downs.
In went Skippy, he could hear
the bets being placed on how many balls he will face
before heading back to the pavilion. Discussion during
the Johnson/Harris partnership focussed on Skippy telling
everyone that if we batted the full 35 overs he would
be happy, getting anywhere near the 219 score would
be fantastic. Then something that only one batsman in
the club can do happened. Coach started to open his
shoulders punishing relentlessly, with effortless timing,
the bowlers. Sixes and fours came a-plenty interspersed
with his own private fitness programme for Skippy making
him run two’s! Coaches’ assault on the total saw him
pass the century mark and put the game to bed with a
deftly single to backward point to win the game on the
first ball of the last over. Out of nowhere Johnson
had won the game for WSL with a little help from his
friends.
No question Man of the Match
Gareth Johnson 119no and some good advice from slip.
This match report was brought
to by Skippy Owen in which he seeks to upstage Johnson
et al by mentioning himself at every turn! |